If you're going to get hit by a bus in Houston, try Ryder

Metro board chairman Robert Miller says he is unaware of any such effort, and Metro's attorneys say that such a change would have to go through the state Legislature. (Miller, by the way, says Ryder's overall performance has improved since start-up "glitches" have been addressed.)

The transportation authority hasn't taken any official position on whether it would support such legislation, but plaintiffs' attorneys would no doubt oppose the move.

"It just offends me that a multibillion-dollar company would come into Houston and claim that they don't have to purchase insurance like every other company," says Weber.

His law partner John Davis is more melodramatic. "They get a license to maim and kill and want to cap their exposure at $100,000," he says. "That doesn't seem fair or right to me."